B 1033 
W5 
opy 1 







Welch's 

Inspirational 

Series 



VOL. 1 



For Teachers and Parents 



W. M. WELCH MFG. COMPANY 
100 LAKE ST., CHICAGO 



HPEACHERS who wish to distribute 

copies of this booklet among parents 

and women's clubs can procure them from 

the publishers at reduced rates in quantities. 



W. M. Welch Mfg. Company, Publishers 
100 Lake Street, Chicago 



A School Workshop 



FOR- 



The Head, Heart and Hand 

DESCRIBED BY 
MRS. E. B. WILSON, One of its Workers 

Principal High School, Carroll, Iowa 



Anecdotes of Discipline 

By W. M. WELCH 



Moral Training in Morning Exercises 

By MISS MARTHA HIGGINS 

ELGIN, ILLINOIS 



PUBLISHED BY 

W. M. WELCH MFG. COMPANY 

100 LAKE STREET, CHICAGO 



(UBHARY of CONGRESS 
Two Codes Received 
WAY 10 1906 

>, Copyright Entry , 

CLASS/<£ XXc. No. 
/ 4 <o 3*79 

OOPY B. 



Copyright 1906 
By W. M. WELCH MFG. COMPANY 



WORK FOR THE HEAD, HEART AND HAND. 

With proper respect for the wisdom of school 
boards, and parents it is very apparent that the 
pace set for our schools depends almost entirely 
on the teachers. In the average town as long as 
"the school runs smoothly" (if the teachers and 
superintendent are not mindful that "New occa- 
sions teach new duties, time makes ancient good 
uncouth"), the board and the patrons are satisfied. 
Slightly phrasing Lincoln's words, and applying 
them to education, it may be said: "Some people 
may be fooled all the time, and a few may be fooled 
for a long time." In Iowa, or any other state 
where any school is being taught "in the past 
tense, ' ' where the daily work goes on to the refrain, 
"We run the same course that our fathers have 
run," — it is first of all the teachers' fault. Such 
workers could even learn a valuable lesson from 
the unlettered cowboys, whose object in a snow- 
storm is "to keep the herd on the move," no mat- 
ter where they drive them. There are many schools 
snowed in, drifted over, waiting to be dug out — 
all on account of their inactivity. It is the teach- 
ers' work to keep "the herd on the move," and 
in the right direction. 



Welch's inspirational series. 



Study Things, Not Books. 

The greatest errors found in our school work 
to-day, arise from the fact that too many teachers 
are trying to follow principles laid down in books. 
These principles are all right if they are made 
concrete. All theory must be made concrete, and 
this can only be done by studying the work of edu- 
cation from the actual, present-day demands, and 
needs of society. Teachers should show the same 
common sense in their work that agriculturists 
show in their great field. Consider the magnificent 
triumph of investigation and experiment wrought 
by such men as Mr. Burbank; they have touched 
the weeds of the field and converted them into edi- 
ble products, they have given us more delicious 
pears and apples, they have given us more exquis- 
ite lilies and roses. How has this great work been 
wrought? Not alone by studying books, but also by 
studying the plants and their environments. Na- 
ture cared only for the propagation of species ; man 
is working on the line of developing richer quali- 
ties of food, and higher grades of beauty. The 
work of experiment stations has hardly begun. A 
well-known chemist recently said: "I believe that 
there is not a by-product, or a weed in the fields, 
that will not be found of value to human beings.' ' 
This is a wonderful world when we find out its pos- 
sible adjustments and get things fitted together. 
The successful teacher must view the work of edu- 
cation from the same practical standpoint the 
scientist views his work. The subject must be stud- 



WORK FOR THE HEAD, HEART AND HAND. 5 

ied, not from books, but from the materials with 
ivhich the worker has to deal. 

Not long ago I was talking with Prof. Holden 
who said: "I receive hundreds of letters asking 
me to name some books which will give the desired 
information on corn, and often where agriculture 
is being introduced into schools, teachers write and 
ask me to name books which will tell them how to 
teach the subject. They make a mistake when they 
ask for books on the subject, they must study the 
greatest books of all — Nature. They must study 
the thing itself, and not about it." Those of you 
who have listened to Prof. Holden's interesting talk 
on corn were undoubtedly impressed with the truth 
that all his wonderful and practical knowledge on 
the subject was never secured from reading books, 
but from patiently, persistently and intelligently 
studying corn, corn, corn. Dean Swift said "the 
man who makes two stalks of corn grow where only 
one grew before, confers a greater blessing on hu- 
manity than the one who writes a book," and it 
is equally true that no man ever learned from read- 
ing books how to make two stalks of corn grow 
where only one grew before. 

In our school we frequently receive letters ask- 
ing us the name of the book we use in our manual 
training work. Perhaps the writers of these let- 
ters are disappointed when we answer and say: 
"We use no book. We are studying the needs of 
our boys and girls and giving them the work which 
we think will help them to become sensible and use- 
ful men and women." 



6 WELCH S INSPIRATIONAL SERIES. 

When I observe the work of many graduates 
who left school with high percents and diplomas, 
and when I am associated with and consider the 
work of some teachers from universities and nor- 
mal schools, I am very forcibly reminded of Kip- 
ling's poem, "Tomlinson": 

' ' Now Tomlinson gave up the ghost in his house in 

Berkeley Square, 
And a Spirit came to his bedside and gripped him 

by the hair — 
A Spirit gripped him by the hair and carried him 

far away, 
Till he heard as the roar of a rain-fed ford the roar 

of the Milky Way, 
Till he heard the drone of the Milky Way die down 

and drone and cease, 
And they came to the gate within the wall where 

Peter holds the keys. 
' Stand up, stand up now, Tomlinson, and answer 

loud and high; 
The good that ye did for the sake of men or ever 

ye came to die — 
The good that ye did for the sake of men in the lit- 
tle earth so lone.' 
And the naked soul of Tomlinson grew white as a 

rainwashed bone. 
6 0, I have a friend on earth, ' he said, ' that was my 

priest and guide, 
And well would he answer all for me if were he at 

my side.' " 

And again when Tomlinson is questioned by St. 
Peter, he makes answer: 

"This I have read in a book, and that was told to 

me, 
And this I have thought that another man thought. ' ' 



WOKK FOR THE HEAD, HEART AND HAND. 7 

"And Peter twirled the jangling keys in weariness 
and wrath. 

Ye have read, ye have heard, and the tale is yet to 
run; 

By worth of the body that once ye had, give an- 
swer — 

What ha ' ye thought, or done ? ' ' 

And then Tomlinson, the man of borrowed speech 
and deed, and thought unfit for Heaven, was sent 
back to earth. 

"And again the Spirit gripped him by the hair, 

and sun by sun they fell, 
Till they came to the belt of naughty stars which 

rim the mouth of hell. ' ' 

And now the Devil, and not St. Peter, questions 
Tomlinson, who answers as before: "I read it out 
of a book, or some one told me so." Then spoke 
the Devil thus: "Get hence, the hearse is at the 
door, the grim black stallions wait. They bear your 
clay to place to-day. Speed lest ye be too late. Go 
back to earth with a lip unsealed — go back with an 
open eye — and the God that ye took from a printed 
book be with you, Tomlinson." 

There are too many " Tomlinsons ' ' in school 
work. All their work has an unmistakeable trade 
mark: "This I have read in a book, or this was 
told to me." They do not carry "an open eye" 
and their work is dissevered from home life, and all 
practical thinking and doing. 

Every school managed by a "Tomlinson" be- 
comes a place of positive control and discipline, a 
place for stuffing the children with knowledge. A 



8 Welch's inspirational, series. 

"Tomlinson" was never found in charge of a 
school which is a workshop — for the Head, Heart 
and Hand. 

What will it profit a girl if she does secure high 
per cents, and the ability to glibly recite facts from 
a text-book, and carries off a diploma, if she can- 
not cook, mend, sew and do many other useful 
things which the saving grace of common sense 
tells us she should be able to do, and do gladly and 
well? I will never forget what an awakening came 
to me in the first years of my teaching. One of our 
senior girls was exceptionally bright, she could 
translate Virgil into poetic lines, originals in geom- 
etry were mental jiu-jitsu to her, she was more con- 
versant with the Assyrian kings than the cooking 
utensils in her mother's kitchen. One day her seat 
was vacant, and the sad intelligence came to our 
school that Death had taken her mother from the 
home. After school I went to that motherless 
home; there were seven young children, of which 
the oldest was our brightest senior girl. This girl 
had never been taught to do the simplest duties in 
the home, and in this hour was as helpless as any of 
the younger children. Her parents had let her grow 
up under the mistaken impression that they had 
worked hard but this girl should "be educated" and 
take life easier than they had done. When I saw 
how unwomanly this girl (with plenty of book 
knowledge) was, this vital question came to me: 
' ' In the four years we have had this girl in school, 
have we done all we should have done for her?" 
Tf the home was amiss in its training, was it not 



WORK FOR THE HEAD, HEART AND HAND. 9 

training that the school should have given the girl? 
There are some people who claim that children 
are sent to school to learn about books, that the 
home and business life are the only places to teach 
such practical subjects as cooking, sewing, garden- 
ing, and printing. It will not be many years be- 
fore this idea will be as antiquated as a narrow- 
gauge railroad would be at the present time. Presi- 
dent Eliot of Harvard was right when he said: 
"One-half of the education of the child should be 
manual — young people learn by doing — the time 
will soon come when no school or college will ap- 
proximate right methods that does have its Man- 
ual Training Department. The soul centers of 
many a young man can only be reached by having 
him work with his hands; I constantly see the fal- 
lacy of abstract theory in education." There would 
be no educational "Tomlinsons" at the present time 
if all the teachers could see the fallacy of abstract 
theory in education. Thrice fortunate will the boys 
and girls of our land be when all abstract theory 
in education is a thing of the past. 

Education Should Be Practical. 

The spirit of the Public School should be practical. 
Every subject studied or any work done should tend 
directly to some useful purpose. The home and the 
school should both be censured if poor Susan, who 
is able to translate Caesar, cannot translate the 
tired condition of her mother enough to hurry 
around and get supper for the family. If Susan's 
mother has neglected to teach her the dignity and 



10 Welch's inspirational, series. 

value of labor in the home, then the school should 
do this great work for the girl. The influence of 
churches, courts and society in general can never 
do as much to prevent divorces, and unhappy do- 
mestic relations as the public schools. If we teach 
our girls practical, useful work as well as the in- 
formation found in books, these girls will assume 
the duties of wife and mother, and be prepared to 
do their work well. All honor to the woman who 
can interpret Browning and Shakespeare, who can 
mentally uplift her husband — or even susceptible of 
having him unlift her — but the Lord pity him if 
his bread is like lead, his coffee muddy and a whin- 
ing, peevish wife presides over his home. Let us 
send out from our Public Schools all-round, practi- 
cal girls, girls who can work, and who are willing to 
work. 

Any girl who comes under the influence of a Miss 
Blimber type of teacher can not be expected to gain 
"an open eye" for the common duties of home. 
Many language teachers like Miss Blimber are ' ' dry 
and sandy with working in the graves of deceased 
languages. They want no live languages, but stone 
dead ones." Perhaps this accounts for the post 
mortem spirit that many Latin students have. 

Has it ever occurred to you that the much satir- 
ized Squeers was nearer the truth than Dr. Blim- 
ber? Squeers had the boys spell W-I-N-D-O-W, and 
then commanded the boys "to wash the window." 
Eliminating Squeer's selfish motive, or his purpose 
to get all he could out of the boys, he made his 
instruction concrete. Blimber 's work was most 



WORK FOR THE HEAD, HEART AND HAND. 11 

despicable for want of anything that was concrete. 
As Dickens says: "The doctor had over-done it 
with young Toots, his head was excessively large, 
he had gone through all books, and when he began 
to have whiskers, he left off having brains." 

When I watch the failures in life, of many boys 
and girls who have been graduated from schools 
with "honors," but who do not know how to use 
in a practical manner the knowledge they have 
gained, I think, "Alas, another poor, unfortunate, 
misguided 'Toots'; when he began to have whisk- 
ers he left off having brains. " 

Books are adjuncts and the boy who has wisely 
used them when in school is far more apt to do 
good work than if he had not, but the chances are 
that he will not know how to rightly use the books, 
unless he has read more than one book work given 
him while in school. President Roosevelt's address, 
recently given to the Congress of Mothers, had the 
ring of true education, and the education he names 
could not be acquired from books, and books alone. 
He says : "Do not let your daughters grow up idle, 
if you do you are preparing them to be useless to 
themselves, and burdens to others. 

Life's Work Is to Overcome, Not to Avoid Dif- 
ficulties. 

Teach boys and girls alike that they are not to 
]ook forward to lives spent in avoiding difficulties, 
but to ]ives spent in overcoming difficulties. Teach 
them that work for themselves and also for others 
is not a curse but a blessing; seek to make them 



12 Welch's inspirational, series. 

happy, to make them enjoy life, but seek also to 
make them face life with the steadfast resolution to 
wrest success from labor and adversity, and to do 
their whole duty before God and man. ' ' 

School Work Should Be More Closely Related 

to Life Work. 

It is only half the truth to say that the school is 
the place to fit boys and girls for life, while they 
are in school they should also experience life, by 
doing their work in such a manner that it is true to 
life. Even last June there came to me from Iowa 
towns, commencement programs containing these 
sentiments: "From school life, to life's school," 
and "To-night we launch, to-morrow we shall be 
in the sea. ' ' I suppose it was a great revelation to 
these youngsters to find the morning after gradua- 
tion that the breakfast pancakes tasted the same as 
usual and the old world moved on about as it did 
before they graduated. "When will schools stop 
teaching the pernicious doctrine that graduation 
places the child in another world and life, and it 
is the business of the school to get him ready for 
his first entrance into this place called "life"? Not 
long ago I heard a teacher say: "I teach algebra 
in such a way that the pupils acquire precision, ac- 
curacy, neatness, and all those very necessary qual- 
ities that girls will need if they should ever have 
to assume the duties of the home." That algebra 
instruction is all right, but it may never be able to 
do all that the optimistic teacher prognosticates for 
it. It is abstract theorv and has not been made con- 



WOKK FOK THE HEAD, HEART AND HAND. 13 

crete, and perhaps the girl will not be able to do 
this for herself. While Mary is studying algebra 
if she nses the "accuracy, neatness, etc.," in ac- 
tually cooking, sewing and doing other kinds of 
useful work then we are sure that she is prepared 
for the duties of the home. Her algebra will also 
be better prepared because she has done this other 
practical work. As Herbert Spencer said: "If 
education be a preparation for life, the child 's work 
should show this while he is in school." 

Book Learning Now Receives New Zest and Is 
Acquired "With Greater Avidity. 

From watching the results of book study and man- 
ual training work, I am convinced that the entire 
time devoted to the study of books does not bring 
the greatest returns even in book culture. I base 
my conclusions on the study of hoys and girls. I 
have seen a girl work for thirty minutes, or longer, 
independently and carefully constructing an arjron 
or other garment. When this work was laid aside 
she took up the study of Latin or geometry lesson 
and prepared the lesson in half the time she for- 
merly took before doing manual training. Not long 
ago a girl said to me: "Since I have been cutting 
out aprons, I have thought how common sense it 
seems to study a lesson according to some plan, just 
as I cut the aprons.' ' When a child has worked 
anything out through his hands the truth is clearer 
in his mind. Sometimes I think the greatest value 
that comes from manual training is the spirit of 
doing things, in the most common sense and prac- 



14 Welch's inspirational series. 

tical way. This spirit enters and vitalizes every 
lesson, the discipline, and all the work of both 
teachers and pupils where the work is carried on. 
If manual training is practically carried on, in time 
better methods of conducting recitations will be sug- 
gested to the teacher, because she will have caught 
the spirit of planning school work so that it will 
actually get boys and girls for work out of the 
school room. 

Lead Children to Apply Their Common Sense. 

A few days ago I read in the Chicago Tribune an 
account of the death of old Adam Brokaw, the plow 
maker. A hard working, frugal blacksmith whose 
years of labor and economy had made it possible 
for him to accumulate four millions of dollars which 
he has left for philanthropic work. When people 
asked him the secret of his success, and how he had 
amassed such a fortune, as he pumped at his bil- 
lows, he would explain: " First get a plan in your 
head, and then, my boy, stick to that plan through 
everlasting thick and thin. "While you are working 
at that plan find time to improve your abilities, and 
never any time to waste. If you will study out the 
common sense way of doing everything you will suc- 
ceed unless you are fool. ,, 

This sagacious old plow-maker expressed in these 
words the one formula that every practical, success- 
ful teacher should follow in all school work. "Study 
out the common sense way of doing everything. ' ' 

I know it is impossible for a teacher to plan suc- 
cessfully and execute practical work in manual 



WOKK FOR THE HEAD, HEART AND HAND. 15 

training, and 1 conduct other school work in ways 
that are impractical. The work in manual train- 
ing gives the teacher such a common sense view 
of all school work that it becomes the leaven of the 
school loaf. For proof of this, I draw illustrations 
from the work shop in which I am a humble worker. 
One month ago the class in civics when ready to 
study the powers of congress, organized into a mock 
house of representatives, for one month they have 
been practically learning about, current events, par- 
liamentary rules, the constitution, and how to work, 
study and express themselves. 

Train Pupils to Do Without Teachers. 

Every boy and girl in this class has been brought 
face to face, not with dry, dead, text-book infor- 
mation, but vital, every day questions. The work 
of the teacher should enable the pupils to do with- 
out the teacher, not simply when they leave school 
but while they are in school. No person is truly a 
teacher who cannot show pupils how to lead and 
direct themselves. 

When the principle of doing all school work in 
a common sense way is applied to the recitation of 
lessons, no teacher will follow the antiquated meth- 
ods of asking well-formulated questions for the pu- 
pils to answer. Have we not outgrown the school 
that Lowell describes? 

"Where well drilled urchins each behind his tire 
Waited in ranks, the wished command to fire, 
Then all once when the signal came 
Discharged their words against the dame. ,, 



16 Welch's inspirational series. 

The class recitation should be regarded as a pe- 
riod for conversation on the subject studied, each 
pupil should prepare his work so that he will be 
able to discuss independently the subject in class. 
When recitations are conducted in such a manner 
the pupils are daily learning how to do independ- 
ent thinking and talking. 

In our workshop — for the head, hand and heart 
— we have never had a special teacher of manual 
training, but each teacher in her respective room 
has carried on, under the direction of the super- 
intendent, some kind of manual training. Another 
feature of our work, which I am very sure has an 
excellent and practical value for the children, we 
make the work as nearly as possible self-support- 
ing, and in doing this, we utilize old and waste ma- 
terial. I am sure that the valuable lesson of mak- 
ing useful articles out of rejected material, and the 
lesson of independence that comes from making the 
work self-supporting could not be so effectively se- 
cured if the board furnished freely all the material 
used. In carrying on the work as we have done, 
often we have seen many examples of how the chil- 
dren have thoroughly learned the value of utilizing 
everything that can be turned to some account. 

I give one example of the many that might be 
given to show how we are conducting our work ac- 
cording to these principles. Two years ago, in the 
fourth and fifth grades, the children took up the 
work of caning chairs. The teachers in those rooms 
learned how to direct the work from a cabinet 
maker in the town. Then from the dim dust of old 



WORK FOR THE HEAD, HEART AND HAND. 17 

garrets, came a great array of bottomless chairs. 
When they left the chair hospital, they had been 
restored to seats of honor by the little, skillful fin- 
gers of joyous workers. The nominal sum charged 
for the labor had been sufficient to buy the cane for 
the work. I wish you could see the work, you would 
say that it was as good as any caning you ever 
saw. I do not need to prove that as these children 
were doing manual work they were also gaining val- 
uable mental training. 

Our boys and girls are taught to make articles 
that have special utility. Three months ago I said 
to the girls in the high school of this work shop: 
"Think of some useful article that you can skill- 
fully make from some rejected material, bring your 
material here and then plan and carefully execute 
your work." When finished these articles formed 
a virtuoso's collection. There were little trousers, 
made from garments cut down, perhaps the curves 
in these were not as graceful as those from the 
hands of a Parisian tailor, but they were not de- 
signed for the inane legs of dummies in clothing 
house windows, but they were made for and worn 
by lively little German legs. One maker of trous- 
ers, not very elegantly, but most forcibly remarked : 
"Mother has six kids to sew for and she is glad 
to have me help her." I might add that this girl 
is a senior, and in a class of twenty-four will per- 
haps receive the honors of the class. 

But back again to the collection we were describ- 
ing. There- were foot-stools, dusting-caps, broom- 
bags, hoods of various cuts and hues, ironing boards, 



18 Welch's inspirational, series. 

boxes in which "harems of dusky beauties" had 
ouce been ensconced, were transformed into imita- 
tion books for valuable clippings from papers and 
magazines; little tin boxes, which had formerly se- 
creted "nicotine lullabies" had been deftly trans- 
formed into silk-lined, hand-painted jewel boxes, 
and so I might go on naming articles by the dozen 
which were ready to be taken into the homes and 
used. These were not only useful articles, but 
works of art as well. Why works of art some one 
may ask? William Morris says: "Art is the ex- 
pression of joy in man's work." This work had 
the true element of art wrought into it. This work 
bad helped to educate every girl who had made an 
article, whose making had been wrought by "the 
marriage of the hand and brain." 

As I saw these girls working I thought later in life, 
when such problems as lengthening Kittie's last 
year's frock, or making John's top coat out of 
father's old one comes to any of these girls, in a 
spirit of a Caesar, they will cross the domestic 
Rubicon, and victoriously say: "I cut, I sewed and 
I accomplished." 

In this work shop, which I am describing no one 
ever works because it is compulsory. All work 
clone is the spontaneous expression of a pupil's best 
impulses. Often requests of this kind are made: 
A bright face looks over my desk, and a happy 
voice asks: "Since I have my lesson, may I go in 
the manual training room and work this period!" 
Often a girl will return after the noon hour, and 
say as she enters the room: "I would like to help 



WORK FOR THE HEAD, HEART AND HAND. 19 

finish that sewing on the quilt, if I get my lesson 
may I work in there the last period to-day 1 ' ' Often 
requests of this kind are heard: "If no one helps 
me may I take my work home and finish it to- 
night? " I call these requests the indications that 
our girls are growing into common sense, practical, 
useful, all-round educated women. 

Last year these practical workers made and sold 
many bed comforters, several pairs of chenille por- 
tieres, kitchen aprons galore, and both boys and 
girls made telescopes. (I mean those for earthly 
traveling, because we do not hitch our wagons to 
a star.) 

We tried to find out what each pupil could do 
best and what he wanted to do, and then he was 
encouraged to put his best efforts into his work. 
To develop the brain and heart, the pupil must de- 
velop the hand. No skillful hand work is ever 
wrought which does not reflect the doer's mind and 

S0UL f |i : h| •'■ ! I'l-ij ! 

Manual training cultivates in pupils, thoughtful 

observation and intelligent appreciation. Any well- 
made article, whether a school desk, a coat, a house, 
an engine, whatever the article may be speaks lan- 
guage to one who has skillfully wrought something 
with his hands. 

The dignity of labor, the charm of creating, the 
joy of possession can only be truly appreciated by 
those who have wrought with their hands. We are 
what we are, not only on account of the thoughts we 
have thought, but the things we have done. As a 
muscle grows strong only through use, so does 



20 Welch's inspirational series. 

every attribute of the mind, soul and body take on 
new strength through exercise and work. 

As far as the East is from the West banish the 
thought that any book, or special teacher can tell 
us what to do in manual training. Every school 
should take up the practical work which the imme- 
diate surroundings and needs require. One kind of 
work will naturally lead to another. In our work- 
shop, last fall, the class in economics became prac- 
tically interested in social settlement work, and spe- 
cially in the work of Jane Addams at the Hull 
House. So, very naturally in the manual training 
work, it was suggested that we might do something 
for the Hull House. In reply to our letter to Miss 
Addams we were told what we could do that would 
be very acceptable. A few months later a box was 
sent from our school to the Hull House, and this 
letter explains what our girls had done : 

Carroll, Iowa, March 24, 1905. 
Miss Jane Addams, 

Hull House, 335 South Halsted Street, 
Chicago. 
Dear Miss Addams : From our manual training 
work in the High School, we have this day sent you 
the following named articles : 
25 aprons for young children. 
10 wash hoods for infants. 
3 crib quilts. 

6 pairs of Knickerbockers for boys under five 
years of age. 

15 table bibs for children. 

In the Chicago Tribune recently were these 



WOKK FOE THE HEAD, HEART AND HAND. 21 

words quoted from a letter by Dr. Harper: "It is 
a great world we live in, and there is nothing in 
it greater than to be able to help others, even a lit- 
tle. ' ' Prompted by such a spirit, we send this small 
gift to the Hull House. 

Yours very cordially, 
The High School Girls op Carroll, Iowa. 

Every girl in the High School did much work on 
the garments made for the Hull House. In imagi- 
nation, I ask you to journey to our manual training 
room, and see what to me is one of the most beau- 
tiful pictures I shall ever have in memory's gal- 
lery. It is long past the daily closing of school. 
The walls of the room, tables around the room bear 
articles that have been made by our boys and girls 
from all grades; around a half dozen long tables 
are many happy, womanly girls working on the 
Hull House articles. Some are working on little 
crib-quilts; some are finishing aprons or dainty 
hoods, made from out-grown dresses, waists or 
aprons; and others are finishing Knickerbockers for 
South Halsted laddies. The rattling of the ma- 
chines, the merry laughter, and glad voices give a 
medley which makes glad the heart of every visitor. 

By working with the pupils in the manual training 
room, the teacher learns to know them as she never 
could simply from association with them in the 
class room. Not long ago a girl was ready to iron, 
she tried the charcoal flat and found that it was 
scorching hot, and sat down for it to cool — ten, fif- 
teen, twenty minutes and still she was waiting for 
the flat to cool. I passed over to her and looking 



22 Welch's inspirational series. 

her in the eye spoke three words: "Gumption, wa- 
ter, time. ' ' The next day that girl said to me : "I 
have learned a new definition for education, it is 
having common sense to know what to do, and to 
do it quickly, when you get into trouble. " 

One night a girl brought me a little hood, with 
the request: "Will you please fix the back of this 
for me?" "No, but I will show you how to do it, 
here is one for you to examine, and discover for 
yourself how it is made." As these girls work, 
they are making character as well as useful gar- 
ments. These womanly traits wrought out in their 
sewing will appear in their work on future lessons. 
Through this manual training work a bond of 
fellowship is formed among our pupils. They all 
feel as though they belonged to one big, happy, use- 
ful family. "While the pupils work they talk, about 
their work, their lessons, or other plans relating 
to our work. 

While we were making the Hull House article, 
the senior class were studying the works of Tenny- 
son, and here writen by one of them, is a modern 
lullaby which is rather apropos (with apologies to 
Tennyson's "Sweet and Low") : 

"Swift and loud, swift and loud, 

Eattles the old machine, 

Sew, sew, onward go 

Faithful, old machine, 

Over the checkered gingham go 

Thread from the spool and bobbin low 

Over the French seam sew for me, 

While the little ones, while the pretty ones wait. 



WOEK FOR THE HEAD, HEART AND HAND. 23 

Watch and wait, 

Aprons will come to thee soon, 

Watch, wait, early and late, 

Aprons will come to yon, babes, from the west, 

Trousers too, and bonnets the best — 

Made in the mannal training room, 

While the little ones, while the pretty ones wait." 

Whittier's "Barefoot Boy" is famed for his 
knowledge never learned in school. "The dear, old 
Quaker poet little dreamed when he wrote those 
lines that some day educational work would include 
this "knowledge never learned in school." A boy 
may be well taught in arithmetic and grammar, and 
other book knowledge but he is not educated, if he 
treads the streets of his town blind to the miracle 
that changes the snows of winter into the blossoms 
of summer, or the wonders that are wrapped up in 
every tiny seed. 

We have testimony in the Bible (whether allegor- 
ical or otherwise) that when the creator undertook 
to make a paradise for the first man and woman, 
he placed them in a garden. How they were to 
know enough to cultivate it, without eating of the 
forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge, is not re- 
vealed. Certain it now is that the successful gar- 
dener must know something. One day last spring 
I saw a well-dressed, dignified lady planting a rose- 
bush. She was using a fire shovel and had made a 
hole that was very shallow, and piteously narrow 
for Gen. Jacqueminot to stretch out in and grow. 
The consummation devoutly wished for was a 
healtlry, perpetual blooming rose, and she had 
given it treatment that would insult a sunflower. I 



24 Welch's inspirational series. 

know that this lady is a college graduate and has 
studied botany, but not in a practical way. Chil- 
dren can never become properly intelligent with 
nature, through books alone. The idea of a garden 
school is gaining ground (in several ways) we are 
glad to say. Let us combine study and work; hand 
culture and brain culture should go on together. 
On the farm, in the home, or school garden there is 
enough geography and geology to make the initial 
chapter for the child. The city boys and girls need 
this training, and the farm boys and girls need it 
also. The aim should be to make every farm boy 
and girl an intelligent investigator and thereby 
make farm life intensely interesting, and farm 
work inspiring. 

In our workshop, our boys and girls are in many 
ways "taught to walk hand in hand with nature.' ' 
Two years ago our " open-eyed" superintendent 
and may his tribe increase — organized the boys in 
the grades into a Producers' Club. Vacant lots in 
the outskirts of the town were transformed into 
gardens, which busy, happy lads tilled through the 
vacation days. No one can estimate all the bene- 
fits that came to those faithful, happy gardeners as 
they slaughtered weeds and peddled vegetables. 
They were storing up health "that mocks the doc- 
tor's rules;" they were learning the joy and dignity 
of useful labor; they were walking in that wonder- 
land of nature which is open to all who are taught 
to carry "an open eye." There was more music 
in the whistle of these merry youngsters than in 
great Apollo's lute. 



WORK FOR THE HEAD, HEART AND HAND. 25 

Last year our school offered prizes to the boys 
and girls who had during the summer the best kept 
gardens either of flowers or vegetables. In our 
manual training room can now be seen as speci- 
mens of this work, bottles of corn, carrots, cabbage 
and other vegetables. There are also preserves, 
jellies, jams and pickles which tell of the practical 
work our girls have done. 

For the coming summer vacation the superintend- 
ent has a well formulated plan for the boys to clean 
and beautify the alleys of the town. The following 
excerpt from an article by him will explain how 
this work is to be carried on by the boys : 

"It does not require a very close observer to note 
that manure heaps and ash piles are the dominat- 
ing ornamental features of the average alley, and 
that about the average lot there is something incon- 
gruous,, unsuitable and incomplete; that there can 
be no harmony between an ash heap in an alley, oys- 
ter cans in a backyard, and flower beds on a lawn. 
The back of a lot should be as ornate as the front, 
and it can be made so with a little thoughtful ness 
and effort. Think what it would mean to Carroll if 
the alleys and backyards could but feel the result 
of intelligent effort. Ugliness has nowhere an ex- 
cuse for being. The superintendent of the city 
schools has formulated a plan and if he receives 
the co-operation from the citizens that he ought, 
there can be no question whatever of securing de- 
sired results. He is positive that every alley in 
Carroll can be cleaned and kept clean during the 
five summer months, at slight expense to property 



26 Welch's inspirational series. 

owners, by utilizing the motor activities of children 
in the city schools. He has organized a board of 
managers, consisting of the board of education and 
an additional man from each ward as a sort of ad- 
visory committee to aid in the work. Upon the pay- 
ment of five cents a week, from each property own- 
er, during the five months, the superintendent will 
guarantee and the board of managers will guaran- 
tee that some of the hideous features of our civic 
life will be removed, and there will be substituted 
additional features that will give Carroll a promi- 
nence she has not heretofore enjoyed." 

But there are other kinds of labor carried on in 
our workshop, and of these I have not yet spoken. 
We are proud of our printing press purchased with 
funds which our workers earned in various ways. 
If you should visit our exhibit room, and ask what 
has the printing press wrought, you would find sam- 
ples of the work — about everything from milk tick- 
ets to magazines. 

In our workshop, we are no prouder of the sew- 
ing, pottery work and carpenter work, than we are 
of the books that our boys and girls have written 
and bound. 

We have no manual training "recipe book" which 
tells us just what ingredients to put in, and what 
method of procedure to follow. With "open eyes" 
and common sense to guide us, we hope to be led 
aright. 

Very small incidents often suggest useful kinds 
of work for our boys and girls. The other day I 
noticed! a lad with very "baggy-kneed" trousers. 



WORK FOR THE HEAD, HEART AND HAND. 27 

As he came into the High School room at noon, and 
I chatted with him, I said: " Don't you think that 
this week you can get your lessons in less time than 
it has been taking you to get them? (I very well 
knew that he had not been making an economic use 
of his time) and do some manual training work!' ; 
What I suggested acted like a spring tonic on the 
lad, and he wanted to know about the work. I told 
him that I had a kit of soldering tools, and a pair 
of stretchers for trousers, that he could get the ma- 
terial and make himself a pair by using the ■ 

as a model. Not many days later the boy had made 
a pair that were superior to the model, and his 
appearance, conduct and lessons are as much im- 
proved as the trousers which are no longer "baggy- 
kneed. ' ' The work which this boy took up has been 
taken up by many other boys in the school. This 
is only one illustration of the many useful, practical 
kinds of work which our boys can do. Every kind 
of work done puts them on the qui vive for other 
kinds, and the interesting thing is that they find 
work for themselves, not only in school but out of 
school as well. 

When manual training is carried on without a 
special teacher as it is in our workshop, teachers 
and pupils feel thai " it is our work, ' ' and this spirit 
is at length felt by the community at large. When 
our "Producers' Club" was first organized, with- 
out being solicited, one of our leading citizens sent 
the boys a check for five dollars with which to pur- 
chase garden seeds. While the Hull House work 
was in progress, one lady sent us a bundle of val- 



28 Welch's inspirational series. 

liable material and this note: "I am so glad that 
you are teaching my girl to sew, I want her to know 
how to do this work but I am too busy in our home 
to teach her myself." One lady dropped a dollar 
into my hand and said: "This is for thread, and 
other material you will need." I might go on giv- 
ing many, many examples showing that the people 
feel that this work is as important as the lessons 
to be taught from the books, but let me tell you 
that the people had to be educated up to this con- 
dition. As I said at first, "the pace set for the 
schools depends very largely on the teachers. ' ' The 
work in manual training is comparatively new and 
whether it is made practical and patrons and school 
boards are made to understand its important rela- 
tion in the school, depends entirely on the teachers. 
And like every other good thing when introduced, 
manual training must be conducted along common 
sense, conservative lines. If a failure is made of 
this work, it will not be the fault of the patrons 
and school boards — but I say without hesitation — 
IT WILL BE THE FAULT OF THE TEACH- 
EES. 

After all, what is the great purpose of education 1 
To teach children to gain everywhere the most from 
their environment, to use everything to the best ad- 
vantage. Kipling tells the story of "The Ship That 
Found Herself." From the shipyards at Glasgow, 
with masts and spars and rigging, every part new, 
a ship was launched. The joyful maiden who threw 
the christening wine over the ship's prow cried with 
exultation: "Was there ever a ship more beauti- 



WORK FOR THE HEAD, HEART AND HAND. 29 

full" An old, weather-browned! captain standing 
near made answer: "She's not a ship, she's only 
so much steel and wood and iron. She's not been 
tried." The voyage was commenced, and for days 
this mass of iron and wood and steel worked to- 
gether and resisted the stormy waves, and bore its 
great burden over the ocean. When the harbor in 
New York was reached, and the voyage was over, 
the old captain cried with joy: "Now she's a ship, 
she's been tried, and she's found herself." May 
we not find in this story a true symbol of educa- 
tion! The whole work of the school should be to 
help the pupil find himself, and this can only be 
done where the school is a workshop for the Head, 
the Heart and the Hand. 



ANECDOTES OF DISCIPLINE. 

By W. M. Welch. 

Over twenty-five years ago a principle of govern- 
ment was impressed upon my mind indelibly. It 
has been of inestimable value to me ever since. 1 
believe it worth much to all parents and teachers. 
It happened in this way: 

It was my second term of school. I was very 
young both in years and experience, but for some 
reason or other, the big-hearted people of a dis- 
trict adjacent to my old home town, who knew me 
as a boy, concluded that it would help me and would 
do their school no harm to let me teach the winter 
term. In those days I was more rash in my under- 
takings and I accepted this country school that had 
gained an unenviable reputation for its ungovern- 
able boys and young men with about the same child- 
like assurance that a baby might exhibit in assum- 
ing charge of Barnum's Jumbo. The previous win- 
ter, the first schoolmaster, a man of experience, had 
been driven not only out of the school, but entirely 
out of the neighborhood, and a second teacher em- 
ployed to finish out the term, had his slippers cut 

30 



ANECDOTES OF DISCIPLINE. 31 

to pieces, his hat and overcoat destroyed, and fin- 
ally felt obliged to carry a revolver on exhibit dur- 
ing the closing days of his term. 

My first week went off uneventfully and I should 
have felt it growing quite tame were it not for 
some whisperings I overheard among the pupils to 
the effect that the larger boys "would be through 
picking corn in a week or two, then things would 
begin to be more lively again at school. " Sure 
enough, the second and third weeks brought many 
new pupils — big, brawny fellows, men grown, some 
of them. It was not long until I was conscious that 
steps were on foot to break the monotony and "have 
a little fun like we had last winter.' ' But human 
nature is the same among boys as among grown 
people; there is always a period of hesitancy as to 
how to start the ball to rolling. Matters seemed to 
be talked over at the recess and noon hours, but 
nothing transpired. The afternoon began to gener- 
ate more of a suppressed feeling of something to 
happen, but the afternoon recess came without fea- 
ture. But after recess there seemed an unusual 
quiet as if a storm was gathering. Then all at once 
there was a loud report, one explosion following 
another and the room quickly filled with smoke. 
Torpedoes had been put in the stove drum during 
recess; but who did it? There was "the first gun 
for a good time;'' 

All eyes were riveted on the new boy teacher, as 
they called me. ' ' The ball was set rolling. ' ' "Let's 
see what he is going to do about that shot before we 
try him the next," was on the boys' faces. What 



32 Welch's inspirational series. 

should I do ? There were a dozen young men there, 
every one of whom could handle me in a physical 
tussle — the use of the club I opposed — a revolver 
never occurred to me, — I had no idea who was guilty 
—I really did not know the best course to pursue. 
Like an inspiration loomed up before me a princi- 
ple of government I had often thought of as a uni- 
form rule of discipline — When uncertain or excited, 
do nothing; wait and think/' So I waited and 
thought and said nothing. The silence became pain- 
ful. The smoke had now cleared away and every 
eye seemed riveted upon the teacher. Why does 
he not do something or say something? It can't 
be that all we have done is going to go by default? 
But the teacher did not see what to do ; he was ex- 
cited, and so he waited. A better thing could not 
have been done. My surprise and excitement was 
subsiding. My effort to think seemed to be bring- 
ing light, A new feeling seemed to be sweeping 
over the school, a feeling that all were disappointed 
in the lack of any spectacular happening, annoyed 
by smoke and loud reports and generally disturbed, 
caught the feeling — I had it — all had it; and then, 
in carefully measured words, in a voice free from 
indignation, but full of regret, I said as nearly as I 
can now remember: "I think we have all been 
sufficiently disturbed in our work by this unfortu- 
nate occurrence so that I can hardly take your time 
further to consider the source of the disorder. I will 
investigate it later. Suffice for the present to say 
that I am sorry that such an offense should have 
been committed against you and against the good 



ANECDOTES OF DISCIPLINE. 33 

name of our school and I know you all join me in 
the feeling of regret that there is any one among 
us misguided enough to think it smart to commit 
so disorderly an act, and cowardly enough to seek 
to conceal it." 

I had scarcely quit speaking when all eyes were 
turned upon the guilty one, on whose face the 
beaded drops of cold perspiration were already 
visible and alternating shades of crimson and pal- 
lor were chasing each other up and down his trou- 
bled face. By this time I was entirely master of 
the situation. The tables were completely turned. 
The attempt to have some fun to my expense had 
gone wrong. It was a fiasco — and worse, — a dis- 
graceful failure. The culprit was already discov- 
ered. The focused eyes of the school upon him had 
unconsciously pointed him out and his face and ac- 
tions confirmed his guilt. 

The simple easy rule of government, — "Never do 
anything when uncertain what is best to do. Never 
say anything when uncertain what to say. Never do 
or say anything ivhen angry or excited/ 7 — had made 
me master of the situation, had changed an appar- 
ent defeat into a victory, had punctured the bubble 
of bravado that had promised "fun" and avoided 
the spectacular, had appealed to the best that was 
in my pupils and arrayed them on my side as op- 
posed to that of the vaunted "desperado" — the 
waiting and calm thinking did it all. Deliberately 
setting my mind to thinking, lifting it for the min- 
ute out of the disturbed mental current about me 
into a more serene frame of mind, had carried the 



31 Welch's inspirational series. 

trend of the thoughts of the whole school with me, 
literally lifting it to a higher level. 

I repeat it again, when you begin to think deeply 
you neutralize the effect of immediate anger and 
excitement, not alone that of your own mind, but 
that of all minds concerned. Here is laid the cor- 
nerstone of the foundation of self-control, and self- 
control is nine-tenths of the control you have over 
others. 

Again, in regarding the offense as one against 
the school, not against me, I robbed it of its in- 
tended aim at me and largely eliminated the per- 
sonal element. All saw the offense in a new light. 
All felt it in a new way. All had a grievance 
against the offender. 

Again, in characterizing the act as cowardly, I 
robbed it of its glamor of bravado. It degenerated 
to a gaucherie, a flunk, a thing to be ashamed of. 

I told the boy to remain with me after school 
that night, as we would try to adjust the case with- 
out further expense of time and disturbance to the 
school. That robbed it of the last chance of glory, 
— it eliminated the spectacular. 

That night the boy remained with me after school. 
T took plenty of time to fix up my records, mean- 
while thinking kindly of him in his distress and 
gaining composure in my own bearing. But what a 
change had come over him ! He wanted to help me, 
— " Couldn't he cut kindling for me?" and " sweep 
out?" Of course he could. We were getting into 
sympathy. By his actions he was already confess- 
ing, already atoning, already arraying himself on 



ANECDOTES OF DISCIPLINE. 35 

my side and on the side of the right. Why then 
should I foolishly pursue the subject further? Why 
humiliate him? Nothing a boy resents more, if he 
is a virile fellow, than to be humiliated. When I 
bad finished my records, he had done all my chores 
about the school house that he could find to do. It 
was getting late, he came to me for his punishment, 
and the look on his face I shall never forget. A 
flash of defiance, then Of regret, then a breaking of 
the light and a final lighting up of the face with 
mutual understanding, — as I extended my hand to 
him and looked into his eyes. "It was a mistake, 
Roy," I said. "I do not need to say more to you. 
You see the right and have acknowledged it in your 
actions since the occurrence, you have already suf- 
fered enough. I am here to help you, not to punish 
you, unless punishment is necessary to your help. 
I am sorry the incident occurred, especially sorry 
on your account. But I have gained a friend 
through it for I know how you feel and you have 
evidently turned over a new leaf." He said noth- 
ing, but the grip of his big hand that completely 
closed over mine answered me more eloquently than 
any words could have done — and for the rest of 
the winter and ever afterwards, we were friends. 

The next day the boys had a meeting out by the 
woodpile. I learned of it four months later when I 
was leaving the district. They "talked matters 
over" and the consensus of opinion was that the 
part of their program for sport that winter relating 
to disturbing the school, and making trouble for the 



36 Welch's inspirational series. 

teacher should be indefinitely postponed, that there 
was "nothing in it" under the present teacher. 

The decks were swept clean. The first attempt 
had failed ingloriously, as the leader had gone over 
to the captain and taken all the mutineers with him. 

And I, triumphant and successful, as I was, did 
not know then how much I was indebted to that basic 
rule of government which has, years afterwards, 
helped me again and again with children and 
adults. Here it is : 

When you don't see clearly what is best to do, 
do nothing and think. 

When yon don't know what is best to say, say 
nothing and think. 

When angered or excited, do and say nothing and 
think kindly. 



MORAL TRAINING IN MORNING EXER- 
CISES. 

BY MISS MATTIE HIGGINS, ELGIN, ILL. 

Each morning as soon as the school bell rings 
there are gathered together in our rooms children 
from homes of various degrees of culture, wealth, 
and of various nationalities. All come to the same 
school to be taught the same lessons by the same 
teacher. There is John, too old for his grade, in 
school because he would rather stay there than 
work, sitting in front of Jane, the studious, quiet 
little lass of the kind that makes teaching a pleas- 
ure ; while across the aisle sits that energetic, ever- 
present, typical American small boy, just glowing 
from healthy exercise, with a great potentiality to- 
ward resisting anything monotonous, quick to grasp 
the situation aud become a leader for evil or good 
as evil or good is best presented to him. Some 
of the pupils have been studying since half-past 
eight, others have been hurried from home or were 
disturbed or fretted on the way to school. All these, 
teacher! are poured into our educational mills; 
all these to be ground out the best American citi- 

37 



38 Welch's inspirational series. 

zens possible. They await the beginning of the 
day and need something sweet and uplifting to 
unify their thoughts and attune them ethically to 
the day's work. "At the weekly services of our 
churches," says the president of Johns Hopkins 
University, "it is customary to begin with the read- 
ing of a verse or two from scripture for the pur- 
pose of putting the congregation in a proper state 
of mind for the exercises which are to follow. ' ' How 
necessary it is that the opening exercises of our 
schools should do for our young people what the 
preliminary church exercise does for its worship- 
ers. 

If, as most of us concede, the school of to-day is 
a social organization in itself, reaching out and 
touching other life to which it is closely related at 
every possible point, and so making its own life 
fuller and richer, then it would seem that all things 
tending to unify that organization and make each 
individual member of it feel his relation to the 
whole, and his responsibility for the whole, are vital 
to the life of the organization. Whatever will put 
the child into possession of himself and his mate- 
rial, and establish the habit of using these freely 
and with understanding and taste for the profit and 
pleasure of the community must make for the adap- 
tability and power necessary to meet the changed 
conditions which the large life of the world and his 
future American citizenship are likely to lay upon 
him. To meet such demand will arithmetic drills 
or daily tasks do? Take a little time for the larger 
ideals of education. Take time for that which is 
greatest. 



MORAL TRAINING IN MORNING EXERCISES 39 

The Morning Exercise. 

The period for the morning exercises is neces- 
sarily short. Ten minutes each day are usually 
given both in the grades and high school. This 
necessary brevity of time is in itself a value. The 
exercise must be concise, appropriate, and well 
planned. It gives steadiness and purpose to the 
result, the expression must be orderly, careful and 
accurate. The opening minutes seem to give direc- 
tion to the whole day's work. It is of little value 
to teach a child to read without giving along with 
that knowledge a desire for the best in literature. 
We teach him language, ability to express his 
thoughts — what thoughts do we give him to ex- 
press? We teach him to write — what? He studies 
civics, what is his idea of a citizen! Surely the 
highest ideals of our teaching — character, true citi- 
zenship, and patriotism — well may be made to di- 
rect all work throughout every day, and it is good 
to have a time set distinctly apart, when pupils and 
teacher can freely discuss, one with his limited ex- 
pression, the other with her wider experience, the 
underlying principle of honesty, desire for right, 
self-control, truthfulness, sympathy, punctuality, 
virtues which are necessary to the well balanced 
citizen of our republic. 

Therefore we have in our schools each morning 
varied opening exercises. In the grades there are 
numerous forms, of which the following mentioned 
in the order of their popularity with the pupils are 
the most common : Beading, or talks by the teach- 



40 Welch's inspirational series. 

er, current events, music, quotations, scripture- 
quotations, readings therefrom, or Bible stories, — 
talks on prominent Americans, talks by pupils on 
trips they have taken, recitation of poems memor- 
ized by individuals or by the school, special topics 
prepared and discussed by pupils, and discussion 
of stereopticon views. The exercises in the high 
school consist of talks by teacher, preachers and 
other citizens, reading by teachers, recitations by 
pupils, current events, music, experiments, and in- 
formal debating. 

Bible Lessons. 

It is interesting to note the extent to which the 
Bible is used in our public schools ; 72 per cent, of 
our teachers make use of it in their morning exer- 
cises. In many rooms the Lord's Prayer and Twen- 
ty-third Psalm are often repeated. Proverbs and 
the beatitudes are learned and are recited; and 
various parts of the psalms and gospels referring 
to Thanksgiving or Christmas are read or learned. 
Then, too, the teacher tells or reads, sometimes 
both, the stories of Joseph and other heroes of He- 
brew history, drawing therefrom lessons of most of 
the moral principles of life. Great care is taken 
to avoid all reference to church or creed. These 
exercises, of course, show the direct use of the 
Bible. All teachers, according to the answers to 
the questions recently sent out by Mr. Whitney, 
teach the Bible lessons of truth, right, justice, and 
Jove. It is not of vital importance whether the 
child learns the Bible quotations, "The heavens 



MOKAL TRAINING IN MORNING EXERCISES. 41 

declare the glory of Grod," or "Earth with her 
thousand voices praises God." "Better is a little 
with the righteous than great revenues without 
right;" or "Let us have faith that right makes 
might, and in that faith let us dare to do our duty. ' ' 
Whether from the Bible, "Know the truth, and the 
truth shall make you free," or from Charles Dick- 
ens, "There is nothing so strong, and safe in any 
emergency of life as simple truth;" whether, 
"Whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things 
are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever 
things are of good report, if there be any virtue, 
if there be any praise, think on these things," or 
"We will strive together for all that is noble and 
good," "There is a true light that lighteth every 
man that cometh into the world," and dimly, uncer- 
tainly, perhaps at first the children receive these 
lessons, until in time the light dawns in fuller ra- 
diance, their minds rise to the higher levels and the 
thoughts are woven into their own experiences. 

Readings. 

One of the most enjoyable of our exercises, as 
the children themselves say, is reading by the teach- 
er. Then the greater thoughts of the master are 
vitalized by the teacher's own personality. If you 
doubt it, read Paul Revere 's ride to your class, if 
they can understand it. Note the effect of the hur- 
ried march in the village street, the excitement of 
the ride, the sigh of intense interest when you come 
to "You know the rest." Such an experience makes 



42 Welch's inspieational seeies. 

one feel that there will always be some one " ready 
to ride and spread the alarm." 

The talks and suggestions, the charm of voice 
and manner, all make the teacher's reading appeal 
very closely to the children. Teachers generally 
read selections that wonld be too difficult for the 
pupils to read themselves, such as Enoch Arden, 
selections from the Idylls of the King, Pippa 
Passes, Vision of Sir Launfal; in fact, I believe 
the reading of some of the more difficult master- 
pieces should be done, for the first time, at least, 
by the teacher; for they are spiritual things, and 
their beauty will be marred by unskilful handling. 
Pupils may be allowed to read selections from 
patriotic collections in our school libraries referring 
to the period of history under consideration, such 
as Cortez and Montezuma, Stories of Columbus, 
Pioneer History Stories, Grandfather's Story of 
Bunker Hill, orations of Patrick Henry and Daniel 
Webster. They may read Hale's Man Without a 
Country. They enjoy reading poems touching the 
country being studied in geography, or the stories 
of great artists and musicians. 

It has been found that pupils are enjoying their 
current events given at the morning exercise pe- 
riod next to the reading of the teacher. Possibly 
this may be because this feature of the morning ex- 
ercise is receiving special attention; possibly be- 
cause there is a war to be discussed just now. It 
is the time to teach the pupil to discriminate be- 
tween important and unimportant items, to show 
judgment in deferring decisions from day to day, 



MORAL TRAINING IN MORNING EXERCISES. 43 

to look on both sides of a question, to broaden the 
sympathies, to feel the universal brotherhood of 
man. Anyone who recalls the first news item 
brought in by a class will realize the moral value 
of directing newspaper reading along lines of 
thought and culture. The subject to be discussed, 
probably the Japanese army, Bussian ports, or news 
of the day at Washington, is assigned to the room 
or to a certain number of pupils. Then the papers 
or magazines where the matter is discussed are 
mentioned, and the children look up the facts, either 
telling or reading their information to the school. 
Many teachers are finding in the letters of Curtis 
a valuable exercise for the school work. 

Music. 

In most schools music forms a part of the morn- 
ing exercises. Occasionally instrumental music 
is given. Oftener the children sing selections from 
songs in season, Gaynor Song Book, or Music Prim- 
er in Primary Grades, or devotional and patriotic 
songs taken from the Natural Music Eeader or 
Cecilian Series in the upper grades. Music has al- 
ways been recognized as a great unifying, socializ- 
ing influence. People who sing together are, for 
the time being, moved by one impulse and one 
thought; it is the one art through which the spirit 
of the whole can be expressed in a single result. 
These daily exercises give opportunity for the 
whole school to live together in a most intense spir- 
itual way. Let them sing our national songs enthu- 
siastically but beautifully. Let their minds be 



44 Welch's inspirational series. 

filled with the grandeur of "Come, Thou Almighty 
King," "Lead, Kindly Light," "0 Paradise," and 
"Jerusalem, the Golden." Let them have often for 
an opening exercise the beautiful songs of the sea- 
son. After eight or twelve years of such training 
higher musical ideas will be developed, and much 
of our rag-time music and many of our trashy 
hymns will disappear. Then, too, in grades where 
instrumental music can be provided, the children 
can hear interpreted beautiful music, which is, as 
yet, beyond their skill, and they learn to listen and 
hear with intelligence, which is an essential part 
of musical training. In nearly every upper grade 
room some of the children are able to play the 
piano well. They are always willing to play either 
for their own room or for the smaller children. 
Then, too, the pupils thoroughly enjoy music from 
some outside source, a beautiful instrumental or 
vocal solo gives them a great deal of pleasure. Often 
a number of children in a building can play the 
violin, mandolin, or other stringed instruments well. 
They thoroughly enjoy playing together as an or- 
chestra, and are always willing to do their part in 
making the morning exercise pleasant. 

Literary and Patriotic Lines. 

Let us remember that children are sensitive to 
rhythm, tone, quality, and feeling. So on quotation 
day, each quotation should be smoothly given, sim- 
ply voiced, interpreted. It should then be left to 
work its own work in its own way unconsciously 
into their characters. There are three ways of taking 



MORAL TRAINING IN MORNING EXERCISES. 45 

up these quotations that have proven especially 
helpful. First, an exercise may be devoted to quo- 
tations from a given author, when selections chosen 
by the pupils, under the guidance of the teacher, are 
given. With Longfellow, Whittier, Lowell, the Cary 
sisters, Masterpieces of American Literature, and 
Open Sesame in our school libraries — surely a 
wealth of material for such an exercise is at hand. 
Let them choose and memorize only the best. Many 
rooms learn a memory gem or part of a poem every 
morning. The poems best loved, which stay with 
us the longest, were learned in our youth. Each 
child feels the spirit and is unconsciously lifted by 
his quotations. Let them link the snowfall with 
lines from the dearly loved Snow-Bound; bring 
Hawthorne to tell his Wonder Stories; and Long- 
fellow to sing the music of his Hiawatha. Let them 
give glimpses of the life of the Orient, nor neglect 
the Iliad or Odyssey, stories of old Greece, when 
gods ruled on Mount Olympus and culture swayed 
the world. Keep these high ideals before the chil- 
dren, and kindle in them a desire to explore these 
Elysian fields of which they thus obtain a glimpse. 
Again, some subject, such as liberty, independ- 
ence, or patriotism, is made the motive, so to speak, 
of the opening exercises. Let the children get the 
true ideas of those three words ; they mean so much 
to every American. Lay the foundations of future 
citizenship broad and deep. Can a child, ever, in 
his mind, at least, substitute lawlessness for inde- 
pendence after appreciating that "Common right 
is naught but the protection of all radiating over 



46 Welch's inspirational, series. 

the rights of each," or, "My rights leave off where 
the rights of another begin." "The True Citizen" 
abounds in quotations that are helpful along this 
]ine. Will the child not have a new idea of patriot- 
ism and his government when he learns that right 
conduct has been the aim of our greatest leaders, 
from our first president, who said, "Of all the dis- 
positions and habits that lead to political prosper- 
ity, religion and morality are indispensable sup- 
ports," to our president of to-day, of whom it is 
well said: "He cares not what others think; 'Is 
the thing right?' is the question that concerns 
him;" from Clay, who would rather be right than 
president, to Lincoln, who desired strength to do 
the right as God gave him to see the right. With 
such ideas of freedom and popular government, 
then ' ' Independence can be our boast, ' ' and we shall 
have citizens "who are ever mindful what it cost." 
Some teachers have found it a pleasant morning 
exercise to have children give quotations from the 
literature they are studying. The children cer- 
tainly enjoy this exercise and give the quotations 
with appreciation and understanding. Let them 
say as often as they desire, "If you wish a thing 
to be well done, you must do it yourself; you must 
not leave it to others." Chivalry rings out in lines 
from Scott's "Ivanhoe;" steadfastness and loyalty 
from "Lady of the Lake;" wholesome faith and 
love of nature from "Snow-Bound;" unselfishness 
from Dickens' "Christmas Carol;" the moulding 
influence of deep ideals from the "Great Stone 
Face,". and many lessons of truth, kindness, obe- 



MOKAL TKAINING IN MOKNING EXERCISES. 47 

dience, and love from our school readers. Many of 
the poems in these readers are learned, such as, 
"A Child's Thought," "Song of the Brook," "The 
Bright Side," "The Waterdrop, ' ' "The Village 
Blacksmith," "Flowers in Bain," "All Things 
Beautiful Night and Day," "The Barefoot Boy," 
and many others. The children enjoy repeating 
these for opening exercises. There is a whole life 
lesson in the following poem, which I hear them 
repeat occasionally: 

"Is it raining, little flower? 

Be glad of rain ; 
Too much sun would wither thee, 

'Twill shine again. 
The clouds are dark, 

'Tis true; 
But right behind 

Shines the blue." 

The Special Days. 

Occasionally the teacher desires an idea to con- 
trol the work of an extended period time, say, for 
a month. Then there can be a broadening out of 
all these daily exercises. We should celebrate the 
great racial festivals: Thanksgiving, Nature's 
great climax ; Christmas, the triumph of light over 
darkness, of good over evil ; Easter, the new life of 
spring, the regeneration of the spirit. A study of 
these festivals gives a spiritual insight into the 
hopes and aspirations of the race, the continuity 
of history, the brotherhood of man. We should 
celebrate our national holidavs, several of which 



48 Welch's inspirational series. 

come in February. Cannot that month be devoted 
to the thought of patriotism and loyalty? Lead the 
children in story, poem, and song to a true mean- 
ing of what it is to be an American. A pleasing 
exercise of this nature was given in a second and 
third grade room on a Friday morning in Febru- 
ary. All through the month the children had been 
calking and singing of their country, Washington, 
Lincoln, and their flag. The Friday before Wash- 
ington's birthday was chosen for the final general 
exercise. Eager faces looked upon the flag that 
had been draped for the occasion in the front of the 
room. Nothing was said. The teacher stepped 
quietly to her organ and played the opening strains 
of the "Red, White, and Blue." They sang that. 
Then followed "I Know Three Little Sisters," 
"Our Bonny Flag," and "There Are Many Flags." 
The singing was sweet, the voices in unison thrill- 
ing with the feeling they were just beginning to 
understand. Then followed a short talk by the 
teacher and pupils on "Our Flag" — the first flag — 
stars — stripes — meaning of the red, white, and blue, 
bravery, truth, and purity. After that all the chil- 
dren rose and sang the Salute Song from Songs in 
Season, and then gave the forma] salute to the flag. 
Thus the teacher bound together in a connected way 
her whole work for the entire month. 

February is also a month of birthdays — a month 
to study Longfellow and Lowell. One room stud- 
ied Longfellow and learned beautiful quotations 
from a number of his poems. When the final gen- 
eral exercise was given quotations had been selected 



MORAL TRAINING IN MORNING EXERCISES. 49 

from the following poems: The Builders, The 
Psalm of Life, The Eiver Charles, My Lost Youth, 
Children, Children's Hour, Daybreak, The Reaper 
and the Flowers, the Arrow and the Song, The Vil- 
lage Blacksmith, Excelsior, Paul Revere 's Ride, and 
The Day is Done. Thirteen of Longfellow's finest 
poems were represented in that exercise, and the 
quotations were given with taste and appreciation. 

Morning talks by teachers and others have fur- 
nished uplifting ideas to pupils and inspiration to 
better living. Moral living implies a knowledge of 
the right, and a force of will directed toward that 
right in a degree strong enough to result in proper 
action. This last force is especially added when 
the pupil, after gaining a true idea, has the thought 
impressed upon him by one whose life and charac- 
ter he respects. Such talks given by our preachers, 
as Reserve Power, the Effect of Labor on Value, 
and Value of Preparation, teach moral lessons indi- 
rectly, but in a way that counts. Other citizens 
have given our pupils valuable talks. No teacher 
likes to formally moralize, but the natural unaf- 
fected talk with pupils before beginning the day's 
work is a valuable exercise, and opportunities for 
such talks are abundant. 

In a first grade room the children came in one 
stormy morning all excitement over the beautiful 
snow. After the morning song and prayer they all 
sang softly " Tracks in the Snow." The teacher 
then told the story of the little raindrop that be- 
came an ice needle, joined others on the way to 
earth, making a snowflake coming to see what good 



50 Welch's inspirational series. 

it could do. It fell with many others on a garden 

and helped to keep the little seeds warm in the cold 

winter. The children were questioned as to what is 

most beautiful about the snow. They thought its 

whiteness was the chief beauty. Then in a pretty 

little talk the teacher gave the suggestion that God 

looks upon little boys and girls who do right as 

whiter and more beautiful than the snow. After 

that the children repeated very softly selections 

from the " First Snowfall," closing with 

1 1 This is the way the snow comes down, 
Softly, softly falling." 

All had seen in a new way the beauty and signifi- 
cance of the snow. 

Some teachers, especially in our upper grades, 
have days set apart for systematic opening exer- 
cises; that is, a day for current events, a day for 
quotations, a day for music, etc. This gives the 
pupil a responsibility in the program and makes 
him always alert for something valuable for the 
opening exercises. Other teachers like to arrange 
little surprises for their pupils, seldom letting them 
know, except in the case of quotations, what is to 
come next day. Both ways are used with success. 
I wish to mention the beautiful custom, prevailing 
in the lower grades, of sending the children home 
in the afternoon with the thought of a beautiful 
song, or poem, or story in their minds — a fitting 
closing exercise. 

Some of the results of these exercises are imme- 
diate; the disappearance of the restlessness, of the 
nervous strain, of the self-consciousness. We soon 



MORAL TRAINING IN MORNING EXERCISES. 51 

see the tendency to self-control, sanity, poise, cour- 
tesy, and order. The united spirit in attacking the 
day's work is always noticeable after an inspiring 
beginning. Other effects seem more remote; are 
of slow growth, but are character forming and per- 
manent; such as making the children more con- 
siderate and helpful, enlarging their ideals, and ob- 
taining a truer meaning of living. These, the most 
valuable results, must be of slow growth to be per- 
manent. 

Do the pupils enjoy these exercises? It inter- 
ested me to know what the pupils themselves 
thought of them. One child said: "I like to have 
my teacher read a story for opening exercises be- 
cause it gives us good things to think about during 
the day. Then when I hear a little about any sub- 
ject I want to learn more, so it makes me want to 
read stories for myself." 

"I like to get news items for opening exercises 
the best,'.' wrote another. "They keep me inter- 
ested in the outside world, and give us something 
interesting to do in the evening, to hunt them up." 

Another said: "I like quotations because they 
teach us the thoughts of great poets and authors, 
such as Whittier, Longfellow, Lowell and Haw- 
thorne. Quotations are good for the brain. If I 
keep my mind full of good thoughts I will not have 
time to think of evil ones, 'and some day I may be 
as great and good a man as Boosevelt." 

I have mentioned some of the ways by which we 
are trying to help our children, by song and story, 
by talks and poems. We, as teachers, desire to de- 



52 Welch's inspirational, series. 

velop high-niinded, true-hearted men and women, 
citizens for an ideal republic. We are trying to 
teach them that 

"Education is a better safeguard of liberty than 
a standing army;" that 

"The strength of the nation is in the intelligent 
and well-ordered homes of the people;" that 

"The noblest motive is the public good," and 
that 

"He who reigns within himself is more than a 
king. ' ' 

We are trying to instill a respect for hard work, 
and a desire in the child to be a cause, a mover of 
things. We want each child to make the ideas his 
own when we read to him or teach him such thoughts 
as these: 

"Work wields the weapons of power, wins the 
palm of success, and wears the crown of victory;" 

' ' The difference between one boy and another lies 
not so much in talent as in energy ; ' ' 

"Success grows out of the struggles to overcome 
difficulties." 

We are trying to have them admire and desire 
nobility of character; hence, our talks on great men, 
both our national heroes and our great men of lit- 
erature. We want them to have moral courage, 
happy thoughts for the day, to add pleasure and 
brightness to their lives — some never get much 
brightness except at school, — to let some sunshine 
and blue glint through the grey routine of exist- 
ence; we want to enlarge the imagination, the eye 
whose vision is never limited; we want to awaken 



MOKAL TEAINING IN MOENING EXEECISES. 5 



o 



an appreciation of beauty. We have done much for 
the children if we have been able to link with their 
everyday commonplace a thought of beauty. We 
want to create a desire for more intellectual pleas- 
ure, "to let the spiritual grow up unconsciously." 
In brief, we are trying by these general exercises 
to lay the foundations for fine, strong, sturdy peo- 
ple, true to the right, firm in purpose, broad- 
minded, cultured, honest, loyal to God and home 
and country, the true Americans. 



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